Does anyone remember or have information about a RAF airplane crash in the 50's which just missed Frecheville garage and came down in a field on the other side of Birley Moor road? I was a kid at the time and remember seeing some of the wreckage and a policeman standing guard. It may have been about '55 but I have not been able to find any details.

the plane crash youre talking about is the one i think that crash landed in the field just on the corner of silkstone crescent... towards the path that goes thru the field to birley spa school .my family used to live there and saw it all ..the pilot ejected to safety..

Thanks for your help on this one Nitelife. Looks like you got it in one. It is great to hear that the pilot did escape safely as this was something I wasn't sure about. I remember being amazed that the plane came down on a small patch of clear land with houses on both sides of it. Any idea what year that was?
Thanks also Geoff for your input.

I think the year was 1954. It was a late summer evening around 9.30pm. The jet ( A Gloster Meteor) came over Frecheville from the Gleadless/ Base Green direction and one engine was on fire as it came down. The pilot was a 19 year old trainee on his first solo night flight. He was killed in the crash as the fuel ignited on impact and burning wreckage was spread all around the field opposite the BP Garage on Birley Moor Road. There was speculation that he had deliberately stayed with the plane to steer away from the houses into the open area. There used to be a memorial stone in the garden at the top of the footpath down to the housing estate but it appears to have been removed.

Big Thanks Haganite. Your information about this incident has helped me clear up a mystery that I have had at the back of my mind for the past 50 years! It is a good feeling to know that others can respond with what does appear to fit in with some things I had forgotton. Like the speculation about the pilot staying with the plane to avoid the houses and the direction of the flightpath.
I remember thinking as a kid that he must have just cleared the garage on the way down. I do remember the cops telling us kids to clear off! I didn't know about the memorial and it is a pity that it "dissapeared".
As this tragic event, in which I like to believe that the young pilot did a courageous thing by avoiding further casualties, happened 50 years ago '54 to 2004 ; wouldn't it be fitting if the local community (Frecheville/ Birley) or the City Council were to re establish a memorial of some kind?? I mean this could have been one outstanding individual act of bravery! Let's face it he probably had a choice. They were fitted with ejection seat I believe. Food for thought!!!

I don't usually post on these forums but this subject has stirred me as I used to live on Silkstone Road which is near where this happened. I used to play on there for years as a kid and I had no idea that this was where some young fella crashed a Jet plane. I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

Sorry to pick up on an old thread, but I spoke to my Mum, and she remembered the crash. It was late evening, and she thinks it may have been an election night (was there an election around 1954?). The jet went very low over our prefab on Stradbroke Road, and crashed seconds later. (The crash site by Silkstone Crescent is about three quarters of a mile away, 9 seconds at (say) 400 mph.) For years after, there were oil stains on the wall of our prefab.

Mum said the papers had recorded the pilot's name as Cowen or Cohen, or similar. Whether he had the chance to eject is open to question (early ejector seats were only effective under certain flight conditions, and some Night Fighter and training versions of the Meteor didn't even have ejector seats), but it was generally regarded that he had fought to avoid the houses.

Originally posted by LedZeppelin I wonder how many more plane crashes there have been in Sheffield and when??

Well, there's the infamous B-17 crash in Endcliffe park. I can't remember specifically which year of the war it was but the story is similar to our friend in the Meteor.

The pilot and crew were limping a sick plane home and had found that they were going to have to it set down. They picked the nearest big green space they could see but when they got low they realised that people were in the park. They pulled up knowing full well that they weren't going to clear the hill up towards Ranmoor and that, as they say, was that.

There it a plaque to the crew set on a big rock behing the stepping stones in the park. I still think poppies are laid there every year. Anyone know of any others?

I actually saw this crash happen, from afar. I was standing in the garden of my home at Richmond when I saw the flash and then heard the explosion. The following day, I walked across the fields to see what had happened but was denied access to the site by the RAF guard. I would agree with all details given above as I remember them from the press report. I would have been 16 years old at the time. Did we not call RAF Worksop RAF Manton at the time?